Lost Mini Driver

09-04-2012, 01:33 PM

The Mini Driver started with the original Driver. The initial adjustments incorporated a fast, low nose rocker with a forward placed outline, both of which added drive. After adding a rounded tail for control, but with additional width at 12" up from the tail, the Mini Driver emerged. The clean and elliptical outline moved freely on the face and inside the tube, which is true to Kolohe's challenge when we started on the design. We were soon surprised by how well it performed in smaller everyday surf. The Mini Driver has quickly been recognized as one of the most versatile designs we’ve ever done.

Here is something from Matt In response to a question on his blog site regarding different fst dims to the pu stock

'andi responded...
hi matt,
have been riding a pu version of a 5'10 mini in southern mex the last 4 weeks. didn't get any big swell but you could feel the potential of the board on the occasional sneaky set... made me feel more confident and under control on critical takeoffs and turns compared to my subscorcher but worked as great on the small days too. stoked. thank you.
my question:
just saw the mini on the fwire website.
for what reasons did you change the dims & volumes compared to your standard stock ones?
In case of the 5'10, the fst is 19.25 x 2.38 & 27.8litre as opposed to stock dims 19.5 x 2.38 & 28.5litre ??
thanks for your input.
andi

Matt Biolos responded...
I am not really sure, more than I wanted them to have some variety. I think the stock dims on the PU are a bit on the small wave, full wide size and for the FW I wanted to make them kinda an indestructible travel board for decent to good waves.'.

Comment

Lots of width and volume held into the nose and under the front foot with a single concave running through into a double inside a single through the fins with a single to flat off the tip of the rounded tail.
Foil wise, there's a bunch of volume hidden in there. The thickness is held pretty much to the rail and remains fairly full up towards the last 18" or so of the nose. The tail actually blades out a lot and is comparable in thickness to my CBD Taj. The rounded tail isn't too pinny with enough area for some resistance under the back foot.
Rocker wise, there's a fair bit of entry rocker in the last 12" or so of the nose, it's pretty flat through the centre under the front foot and the has a smooth but low rocker out the tail.
To me it looks like in fuller waves you could surf over the front foot and deal with flatter and slower sections pretty easily, and then when you get to a steep section you could weight back onto the tail and have full control in the pocket. Fin wise, I really want to ride it as a quad, but it does look as though a thruster set might be the call. Will definitely give both a shot though.
It looks like it's going to be fast as hell, hopefully some decent waves on the way for next week to try it in.

seabass generally speaking, when comparing the two, the mini driver and the sub scorcher are quite a bit different.

the MD rides like it has a longer rail and feels like it has bit more rocker, thus it tends to like slightly better conditions. additionally the round tail makes it feel as though it prefers a bit more speed to come alive and really give you that lift in the tail where you can really start pushing hard.

the SS rides like a traditional thruster squashed into a shorter, wider, thicker shape. the tail is wide and blunt and the rocker is relaxed so you get up and going very easily. you definitely need less speed for your tail to get up on the wave and the board planing with enough speed for you to really cut loose.

In my opinion, you are looking at the SS in softer conditions for the thigh to head high range or so while the MD you are grabbing in faster waist to slightly overhead waves.